Who would really want to vote for career politician Tom Daly, for yet another term in the Assembly?

Maybe, you suggest, an executive – of Disney or Chevron, two of his largest contributors. Or perhaps an official in a police or prison guard’s union, in appreciation of Daly’s opposition to reform and accountability, and steadfast support of the prison-industrial complex and high pay and pensions for “public safety.”

But, a regular working-class Democrat in Santa Ana or Anaheim? I’d think they’d only vote for Tom if they didn’t know much about him, saw he was a Democrat, and didn’t realize they had a choice.

And we ALMOST had no choice, if not for the successful last-minute write-in primary campaign of my friend, Libertarian Autumn Browne, daughter of celebrated Libertarian author and two-time Presidential candidate Harry Browne. (Pictured together to right.)

Following are three groups of voters, and some reasons they should not only feel good to vote for Autumn over Tom, but should be pleased and proud in the event Autumn actually beats him!

1. Democrats and other people who consider themselves progressive or liberal.

While it’s true that you may disagree with some of Autumn’s positions, you should know that Tom Daly has long been known as the LEAST progressive Democrat in the legislature. And even though his apologists claim he HAS to be that conservative in order to stay in power in “conservative OC,” this has NEVER been true in his deep blue district (as progressive Joe Dunn proved last decade), and it is certainly LESS TRUE THAN EVER in this new post-Trump blue-wave OC. In short, Tom has no excuse to be voting like a Republican half the time.

What are we talking about, least progressive? Since 2015 the Courage Campaign has released a “People’s Report Card of California,” grading our legislators on “their political courage, revealing how well they stand up for their constituents over corporations or interest groups that exploit Californians, particularly the poor, disadvantaged, or communities of color.” Every year so far he has earned an “F,” putting him in the “Hall of Shame,” as one of the legislators “most closely aligned with corporations and interest groups that exploit Californians.”

Specifics? Tom REALLY pissed off local Democrats in early 2016 when – not for the first time! – he was one of only two Democrats to vote against a minimum wage increase, giving bogus and shifting justifications for his vote. The Courage Campaign scorecard goes on and on with Tom’s anti-people votes – for example just last year voting against AB 378 (setting new pollution limits for cap and trade recipients) and AB423 (which helps protect low-income Californians from eviction.) That last one – do you really think the low-income district he represents wanted him to vote that way? NO – he is not representing THEM, but his corporate funders.

Anyway, in the event Daly lost to Autumn, we Democrats would NOT be losing our precious Supermajority, if you’re worried about that. And replacing him with an honest Libertarian would make it easy for a much better Democrat to take this seat back in Presidential Year 2020. Santa Ana and Anaheim deserve no less.

Autumn says: “Daly’s track record as the former Mayor of Anaheim and as the OC Clerk Recorder showed that he was a servant to corporate interests and did not care about the poor and minorities. This track record has followed him into the State Assembly. He is a career politician who needs to get retired on Nov. 6.”

2. Republicans, libertarians, and independent conservatives.

That’s a no-brainer, you guys should vote for Autumn because she agrees with you that there should be smaller government and lower taxes and regulations. We progressives have a lot of complaints about him as listed above and below, but when it comes to raising regressive taxes, growing government, limiting liberty, and taking away your guns, Tom votes as a lockstep Democrat.

To you Autumn says, correctly: “Tom Daly voted for SB 1 to increase gas and vehicle taxes, rather than fixing the real problem – which is the diversion of those funds by politicians into non-transportation budgets. Also, he voted in favor of AB 1889 which authorized $1.1 billion for the high speed rail fiasco…”

3. PEOPLE OF ANY PARTY who care about civil liberties, police reform, and curtailing California’s prison-industrial complex, as well as opposing corporate welfare / crony capitalism.

These are values I wish I could say were Democratic Party values. They are the values of SOME Democrats, as well as some Republicans and independents. They are good AMERICAN values, in fact I think we could say they are ORANGE JUICE BLOG values. And they are ones in which Autumn shines, and Daly sucks.

In the wake of so many tragic police killings, several good police reform bills passed our legislature this year – ALL OF THEM WITH NO HELP FROM TOM DALY. The records of bad cops are slowly getting opened up, and body cam footage of incidents will be made available to the public much sooner. It is going to become easier for well-behaving youths to remove themselves from gang registers. It is going to become easier for folks with an irrelevant criminal background to get employment. All of this with no help from Tom Daly, a BFF to prison guards and bad cops, and an enemy to the minorities he pretends to represent in the Assembly.

Even in this election he endorses the utterly corrupt and draconian Don Barnes for Sheriff over fine Democrat candidate Duke Nguyen, as well as – once again – Tony Rackauckas for DA – the DA who kindly overlooked every brush with the law that Tom has had.

Autumn says: “I support public safety; however, we should hold our police officers to the highest standard. Use of force must be warranted, and all other options considered. When there is a shooting, the resulting body cam footage should be made available for public review, as well as police records. Often we find that suspect police officers have a long record of abusing their power. But the truth can not come out if it is squelched.”

Long before the Mayorship (and then Shadow-Mayorship) of Curt Pringle, Mayor Tom Daly was the Master of Anaheim Crony Capitalism, obedient in all things to Disney. We Anaheimers are still paying for his deals and decisions. His elevation into the assembly was funded by Disney and Chevron, and one of his first (thankfully unsuccessful) missions was to save Disney’s beloved “Enterprise Zones,” which Brown and the Democrats had finally begun to see as a total scam that did NOT help the workers it was supposed to, but enriched the corporations that learned to game it. [*UPDATE – see comments below, for the letter to the LA Times that Tom wrote in defense of Disney, after their bombshell expose “Is Disney paying its fair share in Anaheim?”]

Autumn says: “Tom Daly was elected to serve the people of the 69th Assembly District. However his record does show a distinct inclination to bend knee to the corporate interests. As a Libertarian I do not support corporate welfare. I believe in reigning in government power and streamlining our government.”

Oh. Autumn’s not done. She continues, in conclusion: “I offer the best solutions to the issues facing our country, based on the concepts of freedom and individual rights. When I win, voters are telling politicians that they have had enough!

“I am a public school teacher with over 22 years experience teaching kids in Anaheim. My only goals as a candidate for the State Assembly are to serve the public and to provide a different viewpoint in Sacramento – one that opposes the wasting of our tax money. I will hold our state government accountable and work hard to stop the unethical and wanton behaviors of the majority of our state legislators. My website is http://www.autumnbrowne.com/.”

About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official troubador of both Anaheim and Huntington Beach (the two ends of the Santa Ana Aquifer.) Performs regularly both solo, and with his savage-jazz quintet The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.

I think that, apart from falling asleep in the middle of writing, John got thrown off by Autumn mentioning SB1 – which was only a selling point to Republican voters, not a reason you or I or John would vote for Autumn.

And this led his mind to the Josh Newman recall, and to connect THAT unjust recall of a great senator with THIS rejection of a bad assemblyman. Nope, no connection at all.

By the way I dont remember Tom Daly or Lou Correa helping at all to fight the Josh Recall. SQS was ALL OVER it, and she is endangered while they are not.

As illustration of Daly’s abiding allegiance to Disney, here is the letter he wrote to the Times on Oct 1, 2017, in response to their bombshell expose of Sept 24 (AND Oct 1), “Is Disney Paying its Fair Share?”

“Your readers were not provided a balanced perspective on the relationship between the city of Anaheim and Walt Disney Co. I was interviewed about my years as Mayor, including about agreements reached between the city and the company to create the Anaheim Resort District.

“The vastly greater-than-anticipated revenues from tourism since the resort creation are hardly mentioned. The many beautification improvements to decaying old streetscapes near Disneyland – a truly stunning before-and-after success – are ignored.

“Also not mentioned are the hundreds of millions of dollars in crucial transportation improvements included in the agreements, as well as the affordable housing projects adjacent to the resort.

“The major financial windfall to the city treasury from tourism should be a source of pride and opportunity for the city. Anaheim has more financial resources than most California cities, primarily due to the largesse of tourism. Yet the city has struggled in recent years to effectively demonstrate how it spends those extra revenues on community benefits, such as new parks, youth programs, or street and sidewalk repairs.

“Meanwhile, the city’s tourism revenues and employment base continue to grow every year thanks to the thoughtful – and unanimous – decisions made at city hall 20 years ago.”

Assemblyman Tom Daly, (D) Anaheim
The writer was mayor of Anaheim from 1992-2002.

The original article should be read, if you fell for any of that revisionist malarkey. Meanwhile, a more honest OC Assemblyman/Supervisor, Chris Norby, wrote in the same day:

“For decades, Disneyland’s profits went to Hollywood executives and Wall Street investors, leaving Anaheim with low-wage jobs and soaring poverty – and a puppet City Council showering it with corporate welfare.

“Great to see Mayor Tait and his new Council majority finally standing up for their own citizens.”